Main Takeaways
- Autocracies and their proxies are capable of manipulating social media to curtail the global public sphere in their favor—even on platforms where their governments do not have direct provision over content moderation.
Contentious Actors on Social Media and Implications for Advocacy in Digital Democracy
Allison Koh
PhD Researcher
Department of Political Economy
King’s College London
July 4, 2023
Background
Education 🎓
- PhD in Political Science at the Hertie School, exp. 2023
- MPP in Policy Analysis at the Hertie School, 2020
- BSc in Economics and Asian Studies at Tulane University, 2016
Methods Experience 📊
- Survey data
- Observational/Quasi-experimental research designs
- Computational methods
- Consulting
Affiliations 👥
Pro-Government Social Media on the Global Stage
[Another example here]
- States are increasingly integrating foreign platforms into their strategies for controlling information flows beyond their borders.
- Overarching and sub-RQs
How do authoritarian regimes use social media to shape the global public sphere?
They can leverage facets of national identity to discredit diaspora regime critics.
Hypotheses
- Gender: Women easier to attack
- Language of the “oppressor”
Method for stance detection
- Multilingual BERT + Active Learning
Case study on Pro-CCP Twitter’s communication with Uyghur activists-in-exile
How do authoritarian regimes use social media to shape the global public sphere?
They benefit from platform policies that expand the reach of state actors globally.
[Anti-]LGBTQ+ Advocacy \(\leftrightarrow\) Politics
- Global increase in Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in 2023
- Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation spans multiple issue areas
- Social media accelerates online and offline organizing around LGBTQ+ politics
(Ritholtz, Koh, and Gohdes 2022)